A random plane, or not?
by Magus Zanin
Summary: The Companions of the Hall have to make a choice when dealing with some bandits. Will they survive this?
1. Chapter 1

_**Chance, Not Chance, Both?**_

The thieves had not stood a chance. The battle was over in less than twenty minuets. The only problem was, the wizard was not as out cold as they had thought. So, as Drizzt, Bruenor, and Wulfgar argued where to take the bandits, Catti-brie and Regis made a bit of stew for afternoon lunch. Everyone paid a bit of attention to the five bandits tied up, with their backs to the boulder. As the wizard came to and remembered the events of the past hour, he had the good sense to stay still. After a couple of years in the Hosttower, one did not lack self-control. One also picked up a few tricks for spots like this. Such as learning to cast a spell with no words or gestures. He had only had one spell like that, but it was one that could very well get him out of the mess he very dearly wanted to get out of. He also knew the Companion's reputation, namely, they would not abandon each other, no matter the odds. Under other circumstances this would have been a problem. But here it might just be his salvation.

Spending the next ten seconds casting, he subtly positioned his bound legs so he could lash out with them. His spell ready he kicked the auburn haired one, Catti-brie, in the arm, then rolled away, only to have Twinkle at his heart in an instant.

Scared, but knowing that seeming confidant was very much needed in this situation, He laughed then added, "She is as good as gone. In less than ten seconds, she will go to a random plane! You will never see her again!" He ended his little show with a slow motion showing Drizzt the forked rod that was the focus for the spell he had used.

Drizzt, recognizing the rod for what is was, and vaguely remembering a spell from the academy that used such items, whipped around and told every one to touch the clearly shaken woman on the shoulder. Five seconds later, the wizards spell took affect and the companions just disappeared.

The ride felt like having you stomach turned inside out, shocked with ten thousand volts and having you brain put in a blender set to "liquefy". And yet none of them had a single drop of pain; until they fell ten feet and landed on the ground in a cloud of dust, that is.

Drizzt stood, as did the others. "Whe… Where are we?" Regis stuttered

Just as Drizzt and Wulfgar began to get their bearings, there was a loud crash coming from the west and the ground started shaking. A massive cloud of dust could be seen on the horizon. Drizzt and Wulfgar turned to the others. "We're head'en to that cloud aren't we?"

"Someone or something caused it." Drizzt answered with a shrug

"Well… we have nothing better to go on, so let's get moving." Catti-brie ended the discussion. She was still shaky and pale but was obviously getting back on her feet.

And they set off. About ten minuets later, they started to realize that the cloud was a lot closer than they had first thought and that there was giant shapes moving around in it. The shapes where obviously fighting. Drizzt set Guen down and called her softly. Then using hand gestures he told Wulfgar to go down the middle, Catti-brie to the right, and Regis and Bruenor about fifteen feet behind Wulfgar. He went left. Guen immediately started running a circuit between the four groups. About five minuets later, they got past the dust.

Three massive animals where wrestling. One was a Toad, one a Snake and the last was a toad. Their fighting was kicking up a lot of dust, which was causing the cloud. Over the roar of the three way, everyone could hear Drizzt yelling for them. As one, they immediately turned and ran to his voice. Wulfgar came around the boulder separating him and the drow. A fairly young woman covered in blood, a younger woman with a pig standing next to her, a kid in a bright one-piece suit, and a young man with pieces of glass in front of his eyes. Drizzt was leaning against the boulder watching the roughly twenty-year-old lady laboring over the other woman, obviously trying to save her life. The two males were squaring off for a fight.

The heavy and tall barbarian looked at Drizzt, asking with his eyes what to do. Drizzt just shrugged as the others came in to view. Another small earthquake happened as the giant snake tried to slam the toad. With that, the two males ran at each other. As the orange charged, he formed a cross with his fingers. Five copies of him appeared in poofs of smoke continuing the charge. The Companions were shocked to see a kid use so advanced a spell with so little effort. The clones were killed with very little effort. The kid made more but those died, too. Having had enough of seeing a man beat on a kid, no matter how exceptional, Wulfgar stepped forward, grabbed the other blond, and tossed him to the side.

The blond got up and started screaming, "He is mine! I will beat him!"

Wulfgar just glared at him till he shut up.

With that, the barbarian turned his full attention to his new opponent. "My name is Kabuto. Whom will I be killing today?"

"You will be killed by Wulfgar son of Beornegar!" As soon as the introductions were done, he threw Aegis-fang.

Spinning through the air as a blur, Kabuto barely dogged the hammer. Thinking that Wulfgar was without a weapon, he charged. Drawing a thin triangular knife, he thrust at the barbarian's abdomen. Wulfgar twisted his torso so Kabuto missed then grabbed his wrist. The slightly angry barbarian then kneed Kabuto in the stomach. The Shinobi puked blood. Just as Kabuto recovered and looked up at the towering barbarian, Wulfgar's hammer returned to his open hand. Kabuto's eyes widened as the hammer came down. In a last ditch move, the Shinobi twisted his arm, dislocating his shoulder, so he could slap his palm, coated in a purple energy, on his opponents forearm. Wulfgar jerked and twitched then fell to the ground.

Kabuto raised the knife to finish him. Just as the Shinobi began to strike, Drizzt, his feet a blur, parried the kunai. The white haired drow faced of with the white haired shinobi, with Wulfgar between them. Kabuto's hand flashed out for Drizzt's torso, two fingers extended and coated in the same glow as before. Having seen what that hand could do, the drow parried with his right hand, gashing Kabuto's wrist with Icingdeath. Kabuto howled and retracted his hand. With one arm out of the way and the other pinned out wide, Drizzt thought he had a clear shot for the kill. Even as the drow was starting to move, the medic ninja dropped to one knee, threw the kunai and jumped back, landing about twenty feet away from the dark elf.

The blond that Wulfgar had saved got up and started screaming. "Ero-sennin!" An old man with long white hair was falling from the back of the giant toad.

As the kid jumped out into the fray of the giants, Kabuto, who was taking the distraction to heal his arm but suddenly, there was a small explosion on the out side of his right knee. It was obviously broken in at least three places and bleeding heavily. Screaming in pain and with Drizzt taking the offensive again, Kabuto formed a couple hand signs and, when Drizzt ran him through with both blades, disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving a log in his place.

With that ended, for the moment, the drow realized that Bruenor and Catti-brie were talking with the two women and Wulfgar was shakily getting to his feet. Regis ran out from behind a rock, fresh blood on his mace. As Drizzt neared Regis, the halfling had a shocked look on his face. The short person pointed at his mace as the only explanation. The ranger took the weapon gingerly and inspected it. It was the mace Bruenor had made him, nothing more. Then he noticed the clear liquid dripping from it along with the blood. On a hunch and with a speechless halfling still next to him, he took his finger and scooped a little bit of the liquid on to it. Flicking his hand at a fair sized rock, flinging the liquid at it. A loud CRACK! sounded and when the smoke cleared, the rock was in several pieces.

Deciding that they had bigger worries, Drizzt handed the weapon back to Regis then said three words "Oil of Impact." Comprehension dawned on the thief's face.

As the halfling and the drow jogged back to the group, they could see Bruenor stomping and yelling and his adopted children with confused expressions on their faces. When the duo was spotted by the dwarf, he marched over to them. The animals where at a sort of stand off in the background. The old guy that had fallen from the toad was out cold and Drizzt did not know how he had survived.

"They don't even know what a plane is elf!" Bruenor stormed.

"How do you know that?" the elf asked in return.

"They told me! Several times!" The dwarf yelled

Drizzt sighed "Fine. Give me a try."

Bruenor just snorted and stormed off.

Smirking and shaking his head, the drow walk over to the trio of conscious shinobi. "Excuse me but, we are kind of lost and were wondering if you could tell us where we are." Drizzt asked politely.

The older woman sat up, obviously still injured, and answered him. "I told your friend and I'll tell you! I don't know what a "dwarf" is, or a "drow" or a "plane". Unless you want one that is flat with lots of grass."

"How about "Faerun"?" The Ranger asked tentatively.

"Never heard of it." She answered.

"Well then…. I'm Drizzt Do'Urden." He said while holding out his hand.

"Tsunade and this is Shizune, my assistant, and Naruto, my friend Jiraiya's apprentice." She replied, taking his hand and shaking it. "You have fast hands to even touch Kabuto, let alone lacerate his arm and….. How DID you hit his knee?"

"Not me, Regis." Drizzt answered, gesturing to his left at the halfling.

Tsunade looked at Regis with amazement. "You! How?"

"I snuck up behind him while he dealt with Drizzt and Wulfgar. When he was trying to heal his arm, I whacked his knee, trying to prevent his escape." Regis said simply.

Tsunade just joked at him in shock. Catti-brie laughed at her response and at Regis puffing up like a balloon with pride. Shizune broke into the conversation by yelling a warning "Orochimaru!"

Tsunade got up and so did Naruto. Taking the hint, Catti-brie and the newly recovered Wulfgar did the same. Bruenor jogged over and stood beside Regis. A Tall, thin man with long brown hair walked over. Extremely pale with feral eyes, it was obvious to the companions that he was not all human.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Friends, Questions and Enemies **_

Orochimaru looked the new comers over before addressing Tsunade "My My, look what the snake puked up." He said with a chuckle. Bruenor also chuckled with a hint of menace. Drizzt gave the dwarf a warning look.

"Nice to see the one with dark skin cares about his comrades." Snakeface said snidely.

"I am more concerned for your safety than his." The drow replied in a confident tone. Naruto laughed.

Orochimaru just continued addressing Tsunade "Care to rethink our deal, Princess?"

"Not even if I was swallowed by Manda!"

"That could be arranged." The seven hundred foot long, eight feet thick snake responded.

Bruenor perked up at hearing it talk. "Shut up, you overgrown lizard! I need a new wallet! Or a pair of boots! Or both!" Manda just hissed.

"How about a stew? I hear snake tastes just like chicken!" The hiss was longer this time and Orochimaru looked at the dwarf like the stout warrior had a death wish.

"I wonder what snake eggs taste like?" The dwarf added innocently.

Manda asked the snake Sannin "Can I eat it. Please."

"Later." Orochimaru responded, annoyed that his threat had been joked at by Bruenor

"I will not heal your arms, now or ever! So leave!" The future hokage seethed.

"Ok. To bad." A snake sprouted from his mouth and then a sword came out of the snake's mouth. The snake plunged the sword at Tsunade's heart. Without speaking, Bruenor tackled her out of harms way, Catt-brie parried Kusinagi with Khazid'hea and then Drizzt bisected and chopped the snake in half. Wulfgar then punched Orochimaru in the gut, slammed him on the ground and poised his warhammer for a strike. Regis did likewise. The entire process happened in less than three seconds

Bruenor got off Tsunade as she got to her feet. Catti-brie had her bow out and ready, pointed at the surrounded Sannin. Drizzt walked over to the princess and asked "What was the deal?"

She responded with "I heal his arms and he brings my loved ones back to life."

"Why don't you go through with it?"

"He lost the use of his arms when he attacked the village I was born in and killed the man that was our teacher."

"Sounds like you made the right choice. Your loved ones would not want to be back if it meant he can kill people again." Drizzt stated with past pain echoing in his voice.

"Sounds like you can attest." Tsunade said caringly "Care to talk?"

"Maybe….. but later. This first." The drow responded

The remaining people not surrounding the prone Orochimaru walked to join the others. Tsunade gestured for the others to back off. Heaving her former team mate up by his robe, she proceeded to beat on him. A punch to the face, one to the gut, a kick to the ribs, each accompanied by an ear splitting boom. Jumping two hundred feet in the air then, punching and kicking all the way, slamming the snake Sannin into the ground. He disappeared in a poof of smoke. Catti-brie and Wulfgar spotted him on top of Manda. The snake howled in pain as Aegis-fang pounded it. Manda also got two arrows in his flank, both taking three foot chunks of scales, muscle and a bit of bone out of the gigantic snake.

Then they both disappeared.

_**A base and more.**_

After a moment of silence, Tsunade turned to Naruto. "Take them and Jiraiya back to Konoha and…… tell the council I except."

"All right Granny!" Naruto yelled.

"Shut it! Get going before I do something I'll regret later!"

"Fine…."

**TWO DAYS LATER**

"You have to admit, that is quite a wall." Catti-brie said.

"Yeah…. It was built when Konoha was founded. Over one hundred and fifty years ago!" Naruto exclaimed as they neared the gate.

The two shinobi guarding the gate looked at the new comers with obvious confusion and a bit of distrust. One looked at Naruto with thinly disguised hate while the other welcomed him with open arms. The companions did not miss the look of the first. "Iruka-sensei!" the blond shinobi yelled, running into the arms of the older man.

Naruto turned to introduce his guests. "Sensei, this is Bruenor Battlehammer, Catie-brie Battlehammer, Wulfgar son of Beornegar, Regis of Lonelywood and Drizzt Dudden. Guests this is Iruka, one of my teachers."

"Do'Urden." Drizzt corrected from under his cloak.

"Sorry. Anyways, Tsunade said to tell the council that she accepts. She also said to get these five a couple of the guest apartments."

"Right." Iruka nodded "Well… you know where the guest quarters are, so show them there. I'll deliver the princess's message; meet you for ramen at one, alright?"

"You bet! C'ya!" Naruto replied as Iruka disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Right. Well, I better show you to the complex now. Come on." The shinobi said as he started heading of into the crowded city market.

"As they were making their way through the bustling city, Wulfgar asked "Why is she a princess, yet roams the land gambling?"

"First question, She is the grand-daughter of the first hokage, the founder of Konoha. Second question, I think she does not want to be tied down with responsibility." Naruto answered. Drizzt gave Bruenor a meaningful look. The dwarf snorted and looked away.

A tall, rectangular building came in to view as they rounded the corner. Naruto walked up to the stair case and pulled a clipboard off of the wall. After a quick glance at it, he marked something on a couple of spaces and then proceeded up the stairs to the second floor, the others right behind. He pointed to two doors side by side in the hallway.

"These two are yours, pick who gets which and then unpack. Hurry up too. I want to get to Ichiraku's on time!"

After a quick discussion, Catti-brie and Regis got one and the other three got the other. Unpacking was dropping backpacks on the floor. After that they went back out into the hall and left for ramen. A ten minute walk later and they had arrived. Bruenor asked a question that had been bugging him for the last five minuets or so. "What is this ramen ye talk so much about?"

Naruto's head nearly exploded at the question and he was speechless for a good thirty seconds after. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT RAMEN IS!" The entire city heard him and Sauske nearly busted a blood vessel in his forehead.

Bruenor, being his usual self, just said "No, I don't. So ye better explain before I find m'self a new place to put me boot."

After thirty more seconds of a gape mouthed blank look, he just said "I can't explain it! It must be experienced!"

Drizzt, Catti-brie and Regis had to choke back laughter at what was arguably the most profound thing their young friend had ever said.


	3. Chapter 3

The young man in question just walked the remaining ten feet and sat in an eight stool bar with a cloth covering the backs of the patrons. It was empty except for Iruka, who was well on his way to finishing his first bowl. The others followed suit and took their own seats.

The woman behind the counter asked all of them as one, "What kind?"

Bruenor replied "Something with meat."

"Is pork ok?"

"Fine, just hurry."

"Right….. One bowl, barbeque pork!" She yelled into the back. A man's voice answered "Ok!" She then turned to Naruto.

"The usual? Never mind." She amended as the blond shinobi just stared at her. "Naruto special! Five count!

"How bout you, with the hood?" She asked Drizzt.

"Same as Bruenor." The drow answered without taking the hood off.

"I'll have it too." Catti-brie added

Regis looked uncertain. Did he want what the dwarf wanted? Could his stomach take it? Only one way to find out. "I'll take a double order of the Barbeque pork!"

The dwarf in question just snickered.

A few minuets later Bruenor's order was brought out. The king eyed it with suspicion. Looking to his right, he saw Naruto slurping his with chopsticks. Grabbing a pair for himself and trying to match the young ninja's years of practice, he grabbed some noodles out of the bowl. One of the sticks slipped out of his slightly stubby fingers and plopped into the bowl. Growling, the dwarf just grabbed the container and poured the contents into his mouth. Upon doing this, the king's expression shifted back and forth between two expressions. One was pleasure, for it obviously tasted good and the second was pain, for the water was still partially boiling when he drank it.

As the other's orders arrived, they, especially Drizzt, had no trouble copying the finger positions of the two shinobi and therefore had no trouble with the chopsticks. The dwarf king simply stomped away and leaned against the fence across the street.

The rest of the companions of the hall had to agree, the food was very good, if a bit on the weird side. Then there was the minor, but quickly growing war between Regis and Naruto. An epic in the making, Iruka looked a Drizzt, holding his wallet and begging with his eyes for the drow to stop this before it got started. Luck was with the chunin teacher then, for Gai and Lee happened to run by and spot Naruto at the ramen stand.

"Hey, Naruto! What happened to that sparring match?" Lee yelled from about twenty feet away.

Naruto was too busy looking for a place to hide to reply. Taking pity on the adult shinobi, Drizzt stepped out of the curtain, taking a couple quick steps in the direction of Gai and his younger clone. "Naruto has a meeting with his Sensei but I would be happy to spar!" Iruka sighed with relief as Naruto ran off, leaving half a bowl of ramen on the counter. Naruto yelled something mostly unintelligible about "Finding Kakashi" as he ran down the street.

Lee, never one to pass up a fight, simply shrugged and settled into his stance. Drizzt removed his hood and as before, the only thing on his opponents face was surprise but no fear or hate. The drow's scimitars seemed to leap into his hands as he steeled himself of the taijutsu ninja's attack. Lee did not disappoint as he charged, then ducked as he tried to sweep the ranger's feet out from under him. Drizzt simply hopped over the attack and responded by, in-mid fall, thrusting Twinkle at his opponent's leg. Lee twisted, moving his thigh out of harms way and bringing his other leg around for a hit on Drizzt's shoulder. The dark elf ducked and slashed at Bowlcut's arm. That arm was planted on the ground, so Lee simply pushed off, flying ten feet in the air and coming down with an ax kick to the rangers shoulder. Drizzt summoned his innate drow power of darkness over the two and then side stepped. As Fuzzybrows was yelling at him, some deranged rant about the "power of youth", the ranger silently slipped behind him and had Icingdeath and Twinkle crossed at the back of his neck. Lee shut up at the feeling of cold steel ready to take his head off.

The globe was dispelled by the drow. Gai was stunned to see his star student beaten in two minuets flat. The lack off words lasted as long as it took for him to get the breath to start ranting about "the power of youth!" Drizzt plugged his ears and walked back too the ramen stand, both the teacher and the student still ranting. Then the most unexpected thing happened, the tall one doubled his ranting, this time about a rival, and the short one walked over to Drizzt and shook his hand.

"I must apologize for my rudeness. I am Rock Lee, shinobi of the hidden leaf!"

"Drizzt Do'Urden." The drow replied, taking the ninja's hand.

"That is some style you have! You must have practiced from a young age!"

"You have no idea. You are good also. You have the conditioning down but you need to get the mental stuff to advance as a fighter much further."

"Ok! Can you teach me?!"

"Maybe…" Drizzt replied, not wanting to make commitments.

"Just tell me what I must do! The power of youth shall prevail!"

Drizzt looked at his new friend. Iruka simply gave him a look that said "don't ask". Taking the hint, the drow turned back too Lee and said "I don't know…."

Wulfgar interrupted "I will teach him if he can beat me. If not….." The barbarian trailed off an evil gleam in his ice blue eyes.

"I accept your challenge!" Gai looked like he was drooling as his pupil said this.

"I will avenge my student! You will lose!" Gai yelled at the ranger, who had gone back to eating his ramen.

"I will not be involved in a meaningless fight only to determine who is better." Drizzt responded calmly after consuming a bunch of noodles. Gai's face went red at the ranger's refusal. Cattie-brie nodded slightly, glad that her friend was sticking to his philosophy.

About thirty minuets later, the Companions left for their apartment, a beaten Wulfgar setting a date for Lee's instruction later that week. Drizzt had memorized the way back, so they got there in about a half hour, as they where in no hurry.

Once they got back, they held a meeting in the trio's apartment. Once the door was shut and the blinds closed, the drow stated "I don't see a way back."

"With none of these folk even hearin' of magic, neither do I." Added Bruenor.

Wulfgar and Regis just hung their heads with resignation, knowing that the others had far more experience than their own.

Catti-brie opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a nock on the door. The group turned and Bruenor answered "Come in!"

Jiraiya walk through and took a seat with out asking. "I know you are not from around here. And by around here I don't mean the continent." The toad sage said in a serious voice.

"And yer tellin' us now." Bruenor responded with a small mountain of sarcasm.

The sage just laughed "Yup. And I can also say that you five don't know how to get back, am I right?"

"Give the man a prize!" Catti-brie said in a rough dwarven accent with a sarcastic edge.

This time the old man just chuckled "You're too kind!" he responded, ignoring the tone the woman had used. "I do have a suggestion, if you will hear me."

Since he was responded to with silence, he continued "I have seen a lot in my age. Shinobi have done amazing things across the world. But I don't have so much pride that I believe I have seen everything. If you search this world, you may find a way home that you can use." Jiraiya finished with a shrug.

Bruenor was nodding, as was Drizzt, both having come to the same conclusion. The halfling just hung his head and sighed. Catti-brie and Wulfgar shared a look with the drow and dwarf and then nodded to the toad summoner.

"I will talk to Tsunade about getting you work and a place to stay here, in the village. By far the easiest way to look for a way back home would be for you to become shinobi of the hidden leaf." Jiraiya suggested.

"What would ye have us do?" The women asked the old man.

"Most of the time, you would protect people that pay for it, retrieve items and rescue people. But the best part is, you would get to travel all over the world. With plenty of time to investigate things that might help you return."

"Ok…. would we be assigned jobs?" Drizzt probed, his curiosity peaked.

"Yes… but in your case, Tsunade, nor the council, have any authority over you, so you could leave and find a new base at any time. Plus, it has always been a pride of Konoha's that if you think a mission is wrong morally, then you don't have to do it. The hokage might find some one else to do it."

"So let me get this straight, if we don't like the mission, we can turn it down?" Regis spoke up.

"Yup, that's about it. No criminal charges or anything like that. Now… a lot of people also have a thing about putting the village before your self. But if you honestly think that the mission is wrong, then most likely there are other who would feel the same. If others agree then…. There won't be repercussions in the community."

"How do the missions benefit the whole village?" Wulfgar asked, figuring a set up like his old tribe.

"Obviously, you get paid for the mission. Missions are ranked by danger: D, C, B, A and S. The higher the rank, the more money. Part of the money goes straight to improvements for the village. You get half, give or take, depending on the rank and duration. Duration being how long you are out and away from the village. You also get, depending on rank, a solo apartment, plenty of food and access to any health care you need. Those things come from the half of the mission revenue you don't get. The little over half goes to feeding and housing the shinobi, the rest goes to various other places."

"Oh…. You lost me at Ranks" Wulfgar sounded and looked confused.

Drizzt however was nodding "Alright, talk to the hokage about it. If she accepts, how long till our first mission?"

"A week, maybe two." The sage responded

"We need information. Like a crash course on the shinobi and non shinobi parts of the world." Catti-brie broke into the conversation.

"And we need to understand how you fight. Even if we can't fight like you."

"I will have Tsunade give you library passes for the first request and as for the second…." Jiraiya trailed off. "I can call in a favor and have someone teach you about shinobi tactics…. probably Kakashi.


End file.
